small things - 7th week thursday 2019

Our gospel today speaks of small things, little things which we many times forget or neglect or dismiss as small.

First the small acts of kindness.  The example Jesus gave is the act of giving a glass of water to somebody who is thirsty.  It is a small thing but in the eyes of God this will not go unrewarded.  We must remember the injunction of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, to do little things with great love. These little acts of kindness Jesus said, will be greatly rewarded.

Second, the sin of scandal.  What is the sin of scandal?  The catechesis says that scandal is anything said, done or omitted which leads another to commit sin.”  Last Saturday during baptism I reminded the godparents of their duty towards their godchildren.  It is their responsibility as spiritual parent to counsel, to give advice and even to reprimand their iyado or iyada if they have strayed from the ways of Jesus or have violated the commandments.  
Halimbawa, it is the responsibility of godparents to remind their wards to ask the blessings of the church in marriage kag indi lang maglive-in. Our inaction becomes a scandal which leads others to sin kon wala naton sila ginsaway ukon ginlaygayan.  Yours may have been just a neglect but these small acts of leading others to sin, Jesus said, will be greatly punished.

Today our gospel is reminding us of the small things we tend to forget – little acts of kindness, little acts of concern, little acts of neglect.  But these are important responsibilities. Why?  Because it is crucial to the living out daily of the commandment to love one another, and the concern of love is the physical as well as spiritual good of the other.